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Jimmy Hansra has been named captain of Canada's national men's team ahead of the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifiers. Hansra takes over from Ashish Bagai who announced his retirement last week.

Hansra previously captained Canada following the 2011 Cricket World Cup as well as in first class matches this year.

The Abbotsford, BC native stormed onto the international scene as Canada's second leading scorer in the 2011 World Cup and has been amongst Canada's top players since.

Said Hansra on the appointment

"It is always an honour representing your Country in any sport or field and I am humbled to be able to given this opportunity. There is no doubt that our performances have been below par for the last couple years, but as professionals we must take that challenge and believe that things can be changed around for good. You are only as good as your next performance and I am confident that is group is hungry and ready for New Zealand. I urge everyone to put all the differences aside and together as a nation, together as a team, lets go out there to fight for our respect and future."

Cricket Canada president Ravin Moorthy congratulated Hansra on his appointment

"Its always a pleasure to have a person of Jimmy's calibre part of our organization. We are excited and proud to have him lead our side to New Zealand and we wish them the best of luck."

The man often regarded as the greatest Canadian cricketer of all time has called it a day. Ashish Bagai announced his retirement Saturday. The product of a Toronto District cricket Association and Toronto Cricket Academy rose through the ranks of Canada's youth system playing both u15 and u19 before joining the Canadian team at the young age of 17.

He displayed his prowess as a glove man for Canada at the 2003 cricket World Cup where he drew praise from many corners. Following a short hiatus to attend university Bagai returned this time as one of Canada's top players leading towards the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
With the team struggling in 2009, Bagai returned to captain Canada at the 2009 Cricket World Cup Qualifier. Often regarded as the best side Canada has ever put together, he led his charges to a second place finish and a spot in the 2011 Cricket World Cup. With a World Cup in his ancestral home on the horizon, Bagain left his career in Europe to rejoin Canada, this time as its first ever centrally contracted player. His return lasted until the end of 2011 Cricket World Cup where he went to pursue an education in the United States.

After some short stints working in television and completing his MBA, in May of 2013, Bagai returned for a 7 month period culminating with Canada's unsuccessful attempt to gain a berth in the 2014 World Twenty20.

Bagai had mixed emotions on the retirement, in a statement saying

"It's been 15 years since I first played for Canada and I think it's time for me to finally move on. It has been an absolute privilege and honour to represent Canada for such a long time and a responsibility I took very seriously.

First, I would like to thank my family for their continuous support and encouragement over the past 15 years. My parents, Vijay and Rita, my brother Akshay and my wife Monika have always believed in me and helped me through tough times. I would also like to thank my friends for being beside me throughout my time playing cricket. I would like to say a special thank you to Mr. Brian Hale who was the reason why started playing cricket in Canada and who shaped my entire game at a young age at the Toronto Cricket Academy. Finally, everyone who was a part of Cricket Canada since 1998 including the board, coaches and all the players that I have had the pleasure of playing with.

I feel gutted to be leaving the game when Canadian Cricket is going through a tough time but I believe that the young players that have been around for a while now will start stepping up in the coming years. There are some really talented young cricketers in Canada that need some proper guidance to be able to compete at the international level. The future of the game in Canada is really in their hands. The opportunity of making something for themselves is definitely there but it is up to them to show to the world how bad they want it. I will be following them with great interest.""

Cricket Canada's president Ravin Moorthy, who signed Bagai to his central contract in 2009 was grateful for Ashish's contribution to the game.

"There is no doubt that Ashish is a very special player. To consistently play at the high level he did without the benefit of a first-class cricketing structure around him is nothing short of amazing. He was one of the greatest players to play the Associate game and his presence will be missed not only by Canadian cricket but by many around the world. He consistently drove us to expect more on and off the field and set a fine example for those around him as to what it means to be a Canadian cricketer.

We wish Ashish and Monika the best as they start their new lives together and are looking forward to continuing to work with Ashish off the field to grow and move Canadian cricket forward. "

Bagai leaves as Canada's highest run getter in ODI's with 1964 runs at 37.76. He was part of Canada's squad that defeated Bangladesh in Durban at the 2003 Cricket World Cup

Canada will open the 2014 u19 Cricket World Cup against Zimbabwe February 13th in Abu Dhabi. Canada defeated Zimbabwe to open their campaign in 2010. Canada will also play group matches against South Africa and West Indies.

Cricket Canada's chairman of selectors Chris James has announced his retirement effectively immediately. James who has served in multiple capacities in Canadian cricket over the past 20 years had initially retired earlier this year but was asked by the organization to stay on to help direct a critical push through the World Cup Qualifiers.

Hailing from Calgary, James served in various capacities in the local Calgary and District Cricket League taking a league in danger of losing its only grounds and leading it back to health. The league tripled in size over James leadership while reaching out to the community and mending a difficult relationship with the city. James moved on to become president of Cricket Alberta where he spearheaded the work to get government funding that would soon lead to the establishment of an office with permanent staff.

James served as a national selector in two stints, from 2005-2009 and again from 2010- current. Under his guidance, Canada qualified for the 2011 Cricket World Cup as well as winning only its second ever game at a Cricket World Cup.

Cricket Canada president Ravin Moorthy thanked James for his contributions

"We were probably the most unlikely pair to work together but we instantly clicked and did a lot of great work in the past 10 years. Chris provided leadership and stability and allowed us to grow Cricket in Calgary and Alberta in ways never imaginable. He took cricket out of the backroom and into the boardroom, using principals that we are putting in place in Cricket Canada. He presence around the directors table has been sorely missed as will his presence on the national stage."

Cricket Canada will name a new chairman of selectors in the near future.

Cricket Canada has named former England u19 and Canada coach Andy Pick as its coach for the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand.

Pick, who coached Canada in 2007 at the 2007 Cricket World Cup looks to turn around a program that fell down at the 2013 World Twenty20 qualifier finishing a dissapointing 12th.

Pick was excited to take on the challenge and is looking for the best out of his charges in New Zealand.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet but I am looking forward to working with the Canadian team again. I seemed to have been in the right place at the right time and having worked with most of the players at various times in the past i am looking forward linking up with them again. They've had a tough time in UAE and must regroup and work hard to produce better results in New Zealand and I hope to be able to facilitate that process"

Cricket Canada has parted ways with its Senior Men's team coach Gus Logie.

Logie had coached the team since mid 2012 succeeding Michael Dighton.
During his tenure the senior men's team failed to gain traction and finished the year a dissapointing 13th place at the World Twenty20 qualifier in UAE, 7 spots out of a qualification spot.

CEO Doug Hannum made the announcement to the staff and team on Monday before making a statement.

"this is obviously a challenging time for the organization but this decision is made with a view to prepare and send the best team to the World Cup Qualifier in January. Unfortunately you cannot change 15 players at once and something had to give...it's up to the playing group to pick themselves up give a good account of themselves in New Zealand."

Canada is chasing one of two spots available at the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Also at stake in New Zealand are ODI status and a place in the ICC High Performance Program.

"We would like to thank Gus for all that he did while he was with us. His efforts in 2003 in South Africa are part of Canada's sporting history and his hardwork and dedication to his craft are unparalleled. It's unfortunate that his tenure had to end after the dissapointing tour of UAE but unfortunately this is a results driven business and the results just weren't there."

It was over before it started but Canada were still able to able to register a 5 wicket win over the Italian's on Sunday. Batting first, Canada let by Jeremy Gordon (3-15) bundled out the Italians for 104.

Canada struggled a bit on the chase falling to 14-3 but Rizwan Cheema (34) and Jimmy Hansra (32) saw to most of the hard work as Canada pushed through with 3 balls to spare.

Our loss on Saturday coupled with Italy's win over UAE has confirmed that Canada will not advance to the play-off round and hence not participate in the 2014 Twenty20 Cricket World Cup.

We would like to congratulate Ireland and Afghanistan for moving on to Bangladesh as well as the 6 other countries who moved on to the second round, looking for one of the last 4 qualification spots, for a well played tournament to date.

Like many of our fans and supporters we are surprised and disappointed by the results that have come out of Abu Dhabi. With our late summer and pre-tour form, as well as our performance in the warm-up matches, there was no indication of what was to come in the first few days of the tournament. Unfortunately we were not able to recover from the shock loss to the United States,or the thriller against Ireland ,in the first days of the tournament, and things unraveled from there.

We know as an organization that the performance in the World Twenty20 Qualifier is unacceptable however, we also know that it is not indicative of the ability of our side or the efforts made to prepare the team for this tournament. We also know that our supporters and stakeholders deserve a better result than what occured in Abu Dhabi.

While this was certainly an unwelcome situation, we had been prepared for any scenario coming out of the tournament and ,while this is certainly the worst case, we do have go forward plans ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in 6 weeks time. We will be moving forward with these plans immediately and expect to be in the thick of the competition in New Zealand.

We do still have much to look forward to with our men's team looking to secure places in the 2015 Cricket World Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the ICC High Performance Program in January. Our under 19 team will compete in the u19 Cricket World Cup in UAE and our women's team will be looking to secure a place in the next Women's World Cup. Cricket is still on the rise in Canada as thousands of people continue to take up the game at all levels each year as we find new and exciting ways to feed the growing desire for Canadian's to play. We continue to make strides off the field and support our teams like never before on the field.

It is a dissapointing result but by no means the end of the road, from today we look forward to reaching our potential as an organization.

Thank you once again to all our supporters, your passion for our teams,win or lose, continues to drive us all to do the best we can for the game we love.

An underwhelming batting performance saw Canada out of the tournament with a loss to Namibia coupled with Italy defeated UAE on Saturday. Canada finish the first round with a match against Italy on Sunday.

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Two teams who have had a disapointing run of form clash on Saturday with both teams precariously placed on the brink of elimination. Namibia can secure a spot in the second round and a grip on 4th place with a win while this is Canada's last gasp as a loss will put them out of the tournament.